Corporation to formulate energy policy for city
One of the areas of focus will be generating energy from garbage. The Coimbatore Corporation will work towards formulating an energy policy for the city to use renewable sources of energy and also to reduce the cost of electricity. The civic body will draw on the experiences that were shared at the recent climate meet at Poznan in Poland recently. Mayor R. Venkatachalam represented the Coimbatore Corporation at separate sessions for local bodies. The Commissioner of the Corporations in Nagpur and Orissa were the other representatives of city corporations from India.While the Mayor explained to presspersons here on Monday the likely roadmap that the Corporation may work out in the days to come, Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra said in a release that the contemplated policy would include ways to reduce the use of electricity and increase that of renewable energy such as solar, wind and biomass. Apart from using an environment-friendly energy source, this approach was aimed at reducing the power bills of the Corporation. “We are already looking for ways to use solar energy for lighting, including street lights,” the Mayor said. “But, the Corporation’s offices will have to switch to solar energy to set an example for the rest of the city to follow.”
Generating energy from municipal solid waste would be one of the key areas of focus. The Corporation had tied up with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives for working out renewable energy use options. Now, the civic body might hold a special meeting of the Council at which experts from the organisation would explain these options to Councillors. The Mayor said that the sessions at Poznan stressed the role of local self-governments (or local bodies) in taking up renewable energy initiatives and popularising them with the people. The Corporation would buy a vehicle for carrying out awareness drives on its schemes that required total involvement of the people.
Segregation of waste at source and shifting from electricity to renewable energy were programmes that needed public support to succeed. Mr. Venkatachalam said the Corporation was not waiting for a particular moment to start off with the efforts to promote renewable energy use. “We will get going now by discussing various options and involving experts, elected representatives in the Corporation and the people,” he said.
